Brazil coronavirus outbreak worsens as country could soon be No. 2 in cases

Brazil might soon trail only the United States in the number of coronavirus cases.

Brazil’s coronavirus outbreak worsened on Wednesday and the South American nation could soon have the second-highest number of cases in the world as the Health Ministry reported 888 new deaths and nearly 20 000 new infections in a single day.

Brazil might soon trail only the United States in the number of coronavirus cases.

Brazil’s confirmed case tally now stands at 291 579, according to the Health Ministry.

On Monday, Brazil overtook Britain to become the country with the third-highest number of infections and registered a daily record of 1 179 deaths on Tuesday.

President Jair Bolsonaro has been widely criticized for his handling of the outbreak.

The far-right former army captain has long snubbed social-distancing measures, arguing instead for there opening the economy.

He has also become an increasingly strong advocate for the malaria drug chloroquine as a possible remedy for COVID-19, despite warnings from health experts.

On Wednesday, the Health Ministry issued new guidelines for wider use of anti-malarial drugs in mild coronavirus cases.

Interim Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello, an active-duty army general, authorized the modified protocol after two trained doctors left the ministry’s top job under pressure to promote the early use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.

“We are at war. Worse than defeat would be the shame of not putting up a fight,” Bolsonaro tweeted about the government decision to put forward the drugs without proof of their effectiveness.

Gonzalo Vecina Neto, the former head of Brazil’s health regulator, Anvisa, called the new measures a “barbarity” that could cause more harm than good because of the dangerous potential side effects of the drug.

“It has no scientific evidence,” Vecina Neto told Reuters.”(It is) unbelievable that in the 21st century, we are living off magical thinking.”

This entry was posted on 21 May 2020,02:03AM at 2:03 AM and is filed under World.
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